my 5th wheel did not come with a generator. For $6500 i can have a propane unit installed, or place honda (2-2000w) or 1 3000w on rear bumper to run the ac. my question is, "do most 5th wheelers go campground to campground and not need a generator or have you got a generator so that they have more options? The reason you went one way or the other would be greatly appreciated. Most of our travels will be in the summer months for 5-7 months. rv has 13,500 btu and a 15,000 btu ac.

mel s

05-17-2014 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flcountryboy
(Post 2055706)

my 5th wheel did not come with a generator. For $6500 i can have a propane unit installed, or place honda (2-2000w) or 1 3000w on rear bumper to run the ac. my question is, "do most 5th wheelers go campground to campground and not need a generator or have you got a generator so that they have more options? The reason you went one way or the other would be greatly appreciated. Most of our travels will be in the summer months for 5-7 months. rv has 13,500 btu and a 15,000 btu ac.

flcountryboy
I have a coach, (not a 5er), with a generator.
When traveling we often stop for the night in Walmarts, truck stops or rest areas, but in 14 years, we have never needed/used the generator when "overnighting".
IMO, a generator is only useful/needed for long term stays in rustic campgrounds, with no electrical hookups, and when boondocking.
Mel
'96 Safari, 132k miles

ROMANICHEL

05-17-2014 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flcountryboy
(Post 2055706)

my 5th wheel did not come with a generator. For $6500 i can have a propane unit installed, or place honda (2-2000w) or 1 3000w on rear bumper to run the ac. my question is, "do most 5th wheelers go campground to campground and not need a generator or have you got a generator so that they have more options? The reason you went one way or the other would be greatly appreciated. Most of our travels will be in the summer months for 5-7 months. rv has 13,500 btu and a 15,000 btu ac.

A 2,000 W Honda type Generator Inverter, does the job for most appliances, TV, coffee maker, charging batteries ..... everything except maybe for the A/C, and the electric water heater. I have it setup in front of the pickup box, very quiet and economical.
Mike

Greytraveler

05-18-2014 02:15 PM

My first thought is where you plan to travel will make a difference. If it is going to be hot, then you will need the AC. And then decide how long will it take to make up the cost of installing the generator vs. staying in an RV park with electricity.

We travel in the southwest in the spring and fall and the northwest in between. Seldom need the AC but if we do we stay in a full hookup park.

When we dry camp, which is not often, our solar panel keeps the batteries changed so we have lights and the slides will be powered when time to move on.

We have a small Honda generator to run the coffee maker etc. but not the AC.

Been traveling with a FW, not full time, since 1999. Got beyond wanting to backpack for days without a shower, etc.

GT

FiverBob

05-19-2014 04:25 PM

We use WalMart quite often, but have never needed the AC. We do sometimes run a fan all night on the inverter. Just make sure you have plenty of battery. If you boondock, you need to be able to recharge batteries, that means generator. If you anticipate the use of the AC, then you need a pretty good size one. I would never put one on the back bumper - - junky looking - - sort of like step ladders hanging on the back ladder to the roof. Portable gennies are that - - portable, meaning easily carried away. I think the suggestion to seriously consider the cost to buy,
maintain and run a generator a few nights/days a year versus the cost for a park with electric. You can usually work in some fairly cheap parks if you work at it and with the help of something like Passport America.
Bob

ruffian

05-19-2014 06:06 PM

Propane Generator.

A propane generator producing 5,000W is going to use close to 1 gal/hr.
Most 5vers carry two 7.5 gal tanks or two 30 lb. However you want to say it.

You are going to spend a lot of time getting propane tanks filled.

Years ago I had a propane 7.5 Onan in our 5ver. We didn't use it much.

The little Honda's seem to work well.

Keith

Cypressloser

05-20-2014 12:14 AM

We have a semi permanent site with no power and rely on our solar setup (3 160Watt panels and 6 6Volt AGM batteries) and decided on a built in Onan 5500 to run the AC's and W/D. Pricey but convenient, when spending this much on an RV the extra cost of the built in generator is minor and to many older campgrounds have 30Amp power at best, so saving $5 or $10 per night and running the generator for an hour or two to cool the unit down works for me.

Cumminsfan

05-20-2014 10:07 AM

We only camp at Walmarts. If it's really hot out we just go inside and sit in their furniture and use the stores AC. We'll even go to the food section and get some grub to munch on. Sometimes we just get lawn chairs from the garden section and move them over to the electronic section so we can watch tv. Only had a couple problems with grumpy store mangers. Those problems were probably brought on by our cousin Eddy. We try and keep it a secret about where we're going but he sometimes shows up.

chiefneon

05-20-2014 10:17 AM

Howdy!

We have a generator that is capable of running our AC but I would not run it during the night while sleeping. You can look at numerious stories where people have been killed by running generators at night. If its to hot to sleep at night find a campground/RV park.

"Happy Trails"
Chiefneon

Timay

05-20-2014 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cumminsfan
(Post 2059937)

We only camp at Walmarts. If it's really hot out we just go inside and sit in their furniture and use the stores AC. We'll even go to the food section and get some grub to munch on. Sometimes we just get lawn chairs from the garden section and move them over to the electronic section so we can watch tv. Only had a couple problems with grumpy store mangers. Those problems were probably brought on by our cousin Eddy. We try and keep it a secret about where we're going but he sometimes shows up.

:2funny: :2funny:

markroblee

05-20-2014 05:55 PM

One more thing to think about. Neither of the Honda set ups listed will safely run everything in you rig especially 2 A/Cs. The 5000+ kW units will, or you will need to pick and choose what to run.

Mark and Cecelia still doing that "W" thing

smiller

05-20-2014 07:26 PM

As others have mentioned, unless it is really hot a Fantastic fan moving air through the coach can do wonders, especially at night. Usually you can run one all night on your batteries with ease. If it's so hot that you absolutely must have A/C then it usually makes more sense to find an inexpensive campground, which won't cost much more (or maybe even less) than running a generator all night.

Muddypaws

05-20-2014 07:38 PM

Pushing the envelope...

I hope you're not serious about taking chairs from the garden section to the Electronics bay and watching TV.